


Plans

by meyari



Series: Hospitality [15]
Category: DCU - Comicverse, Smallville
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Slavery, Harems, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-26
Updated: 2011-08-26
Packaged: 2017-10-23 02:31:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/245314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meyari/pseuds/meyari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Meeting Koriand'r and hearing her story opens up whole new concerns for our heroes, but the timetable for the attack against Lionel is set despite everyone's worries that they may not have all that they need to win the coming battle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Plans

"You're from where?" Jason asked.

"Tamaran," Koriand'r answered with a fierce glare that he'd dared to question her. "It is another planet far from this one. Darkseid's forces attacked and conquered us, despite all that we did to fight them off. I was brought here as a slave and then put into one of the Doom Helmets."

"Another planet?" Jason repeated. "Seriously, like a whole different world with other sorts of people on it?"

"Yes," Koriand'r replied, this time crossing her arms over her chest and highlighting her bust in ways that made Jason's mind lose track. "You are not familiar with other worlds?"

"No," Clark said, his voice a little faint. "We're not. There have been a couple of people who said that they were from other worlds but never any proof of it."

He looked at Lord Bruce with so much hope and fear in his eyes that Lord Bruce pulled him into a hug. Jason sighed. It would make sense of Clark's weird powers if he were an alien; it wasn't something that anyone in the Manor had ever considered before. While Clark and Lord Bruce cuddled, Tim carefully examined the crushed remnants of Kory's Doom Helmet. Princess Diana and Princess Donna helped him, using their strength to carefully uncurl the crumpled bits of metal so that they could see inside of it.

"It would have been more helpful if you hadn't crushed it, Clark," Princess Diana sighed.

"It's evil," Clark declared so fiercely that everyone stared at him.

"Well, I can't make out anything from what's left of it," Tim sighed. "There's writing inside but I can't read it."

Steph pushed him aside and carefully ran one finger over a line of the writing spiraling around the inside of the helmet. She gasped and stumbled backwards while going so white that Jason dove in to catch her before she fell down. Her whole body was shuddering in Jason's arms. He could feel her heartbeat; it was pounding so hard that every beat shook her whole body.

"Destroy it, destroy it, destroy it!" Steph gasped after a second. "Destroy it!"

Diana stared and then reached to crush the helmet even further. Clark took it from her and used his heat vision to melt the helmet into a puddle of molten metal that he kept heating until it boiled away into a noxious cloud of smoke. Behind him, Alfred was opening windows with Dick and Roy's assistance while Kory watched with so much satisfaction that Jason wondered how horrific wearing the damned thing had been.

"You okay?" Jason murmured to Steph.

"No," Steph whimpered. "That's… gah, just the worst thing I've ever encountered! Pure, absolute evil distilled into a spell that strips people of their free will."

"Exactly," Kory said.

The completely calm tone of her voice seemed to shock more people than Steph's reaction did, and most of them had been staring at Steph with obvious worry. Jason helped Steph stand and then got her into one of the library's chairs so that she could calm down. Mia came over and knelt by her feet, at the same time that Cass hugged Steph and buried her face in Steph's hair.

"A spell that steals people's free will and turns them into slaves," Lord Hal mused. "And that feeds him power. You said that the Oracle said that Lionel has been consumed, Lord Bruce? Replaced by this Darkseid?"

"That was what she implied, yes," Lord Bruce said. He was busy checking Clark's hands to make sure he hadn't accidentally burned himself with his heat vision.

"And you think that he's trying to become a god," Lord Hal continued with a nod at Kory.

"He has been working at it for a very long time," Kory confirmed.

"We need some _serious_ magical assistance," Lord Hal sighed. "We're fighting a near-god? Physical battle isn't going to be effective against him. We have to find a way to break his slaves free and give them their minds back, or maybe find a way to lock him away so that he can't influence anyone. No disrespect meant, Stephanie but I don't think you have the capacity to do something like that."

Steph shook her head no so hard that her hair flew around her face. She was still shaking so Jason sat next to her and wrapped an arm around her back. Tim settled by Mia at her feet, reaching up to hold her hand. It seemed to help a little bit as Steph smiled a weak, watery little smile at them and her tremors subsided a little bit.

Lord Bruce snorted, letting Clark pull his hands back under his veils, and nodded to Lord Hal. "Oracle is already contacting the Houses of Magic. She has some very good links to them and will be able to get their assistance better than anyone else I know."

"There are also prayers that my people can offer," Princess Diana said. "We have very direct access to our Goddess Aphrodite. This Darkseid is a threat to Her and everything that She believes. I have no doubt that She will give us all the aid that She can."

"That would help," Lord Bruce said. "Anything we can get to blunt or break his power would be good."

Jason smirked as the younger half of the crowd in the library gravitated towards the couches while the adult, _free_ half of it gathered around Lord Bruce and Clark. Things always seemed to break up that way when plans started being made. The one that interested him was Kory. She hovered between the two groups and then eventually came over and joined the crowd clustered around Steph.

"You okay?" Jason asked and then chuckled when she shuddered. "Can't handle the nakedness or the slavery side of things?"

"Jason," Tim huffed. "Be nice."

"That was nice," Jason protested. "Not one swear word in the whole thing."

"I do not know how you can stand to be a slave," Kory said. She was hugging herself so tightly that her fingers dug into her biceps.

"Hell, it's better than having my fucking hands chopped off or my head removed," Jason drawled. She shrugged at Kory's startled look. "That's why I'm a fucking slave, beautiful. I was caught supposedly stealing Lord Bruce's horse. Wasn't, of course, but that didn't matter. I was a poor street kid and the bastard nobles with him were all ready to chop my head off or at least take my hands. Lord Bruce refused and took me as a slave to keep his favorites company. Officially anyway. The real story's a lot more complicated but I don't know you well enough to tell you that shit yet."

Tim sighed and poked Jason in the ribs before moving up and sitting next to him on the couch. Steph chuckled weakly, leaning into Cassie's arms for cuddles that she seemed to need badly. Even Dick and Roy were looking at him like he was crazy, though Princess Donna looked ferociously curious about what had happened.

"I suppose I will have to earn your trust," Kory murmured.

"What rank did you hold on Tamaran?" Princess Donna asked in a blatant attempt to change the topic.

Kory's smile was brief and so bitter that Jason nearly winced. "I was the crown princess. I would have been the ruler of Tamaran when my parents retired or died, had we not been conquered."

Dick's whistle beat Jason's by a half second. Between their whistles of awe and the stares that Kory got from everyone else, Kory's cheeks went flamingly red though she did smile a little more openly now. From his seemingly permanent place in Roy's arms, Dick grinned like the sun coming out. Jason had always thought that Dick and Clark should be related given that they both had those incredibly warm grins going on.

"That's so cool!" Dick said so enthusiastically that Kory laughed. "It's like from a fairy tale, a Princess tragically stolen from her home, taken away and enslaved, only to be freed so that she can wreak terrible vengeance on those who stole her and then save her people, just for real!"

"You are such a little boy," Jason drawled.

Dick flipped him off, which made Roy splutter and Steph laugh out loud. Tim had curled up next to Jason like a cat looking for cuddles, so Jason wrapped his arm around Tim and grinned at Dick with as much confidence as he could put into the look. Cassie was grinning into Steph's hair, which left Princess Donna and Kory the odd ones out. Mia smiled at them all and moved to kneel at Conner's feet. He petted her hair, smiling at Dick and Roy with enough amusement that Roy flushed.

"Are we all supposed to be paired up?" Kory asked Princess Donna. "Is that a tradition here?"

"Ah, not so much," Princess Donna laughed. "Not that I'd mind, you're quite lovely and very fierce. Amazons like that sort of thing. Mia is Conner's slave. Jason and Tim have been involved for a while, Dick and Roy have a thing going on that the elders are trying to do something sneaky about, and well, I think Cassie just wanted to make Steph feel better after she touched that spell."

"Which I appreciate!" Steph declared while hugging Cassie's waist and making her laugh.

Kory chuckled. Her grip on her arms slowly relaxed. She seemed much more comfortable once she wasn't on the defensive, as though it took an effort for her to be so suspicious of them all. It made Jason curious about her world and what it was like. He didn't ask. Tim'd probably break down and start quizzing her soon enough. For now, Jason let her relax and get used to everyone. Those first few hours after a huge change in your life, and going from a spelled slave to a free warrior had to be huge.

"What are they going to do?" Kory asked while looking at the others.

"Not sure," Jason said. "But it'll probably all tie into Dick's punishment. He got caught sneaking away and has to be publically punished at Court. Fucking Lionel'll be leaving soon so we can't put it off much longer. It'll make a perfect opportunity to do something to overthrow him."

"We need the Houses of Magic," Steph said entirely too seriously. "I don't think we can win against him without them, guys."

"It would be hard," Tim mused. "Maybe impossible."

"Let's barge in on their discussion," Jason said while pulling Tim to his feet. "Seriously, we're all fighting in this battle too. We got a right to know what the fuck's coming at us."

"Agreed," Kory said.

She clenched one fist as though she expected to have to fight for the right to be included in the discussion. Her eyes went narrow when Jason snorted at her and casually strolled over to lean against the table. Lord Bruce raised an eyebrow and Princess Diana moved over but that was all the response they got from the older heroes. Kory chuckled and pushed Jason to the side so that she could stand between him and Princess Diana. The others clustered behind Jason, other than Steph and Cassie who stayed on the sofa.

"Do we have any idea when we'll hear from the Houses of Magic?" Steve asked. "That seems to be the key for all of this."

"All what?" Jason asked, looking at Lord Bruce automatically.

"We're going to fight," Clark announced and thus captured everyone's attention. "Lex has been informed of what happened to Lionel. He said that someone has to challenge Lionel for his throne. Bruce wanted to do it but I won't let him. I'm the logical choice. Lionel was taken after interacting with me. He's always been focused on me. Whatever has Lionel now wants _me_ and that means that I have to be the one to challenge him. Which of course I'll have to do as Superman because a slave can't challenge a free person."

"Whoa," Jason murmured in surprise.

"This will happen when I take Dick for his punishment," Lord Bruce continued. His glance at Dick and Roy was full of sympathy and an edge of sorrow. "That will happen in two days."

Dick whimpered and went so white that Roy wrapped his arms around him as if to keep him safe. Jason growled but his growl wasn't half as loud as Princess Diana's or the shocked noise that Princess Donna made.

"It is completely shameful that you would do that to him!" Princess Diana exclaimed.

"Angel," Steve murmured as he put a hand on her arm that she shrugged off.

"You presume that the attack will happen after he's beaten," Lord Bruce replied with such a confident smirk that it made Diana stop mid-word. "I have no intention of actually beating the boy, Princess Diana. We're going to use Dick's punishment as a distraction to keep King Lionel from noticing our plans."

Clark held up a hand, clenching it into a fist as he stared off into the distance with the intent expression that meant he'd heard something. He frowned ferociously and then made the little 'm' symbol and tapped his ear so that everyone would know that they were being listened in on by magical means. Dick took a deep breath and promptly fell to his knees in front of Lord Bruce, whimpering as if he'd just been threatened with his own death.

"Not that, not that, please Master, not that!" Dick begged so earnestly that Kory and Princess Diana looked like they wanted to punch Lord Bruce through the wall.

'Magic ears,' Jason mouthed at them, earning surprised looks and then grins of appreciation turned on Clark.

"That's enough of that, Dick," Lord Bruce said, playing his role perfectly. "You knew that there would be a price for your misbehavior. I've allowed you a huge amount of freedom for years. You took advantage of that so there has to be proper punishment."

Dick looked completely heartbroken, and Jason had to assume that he was imagining being beaten within an inch of his life before being turned out on the street to die. Roy had his 'have to protect!' face on, which prompted Lord Oliver to get into the act.

"Stay out of it, Roy," Lord Oliver said with a firm hand on Roy's shoulder. "This wasn't your fault and you know it. It's entirely the slave's fault for getting attached and after just one night, too."

"But…" Roy sighed and bit his tongue, especially when Dinah tutted at him and patted his hand fondly.

"You have two days," Lord Bruce told Dick though his eyes were on Clark's entirely too intent expression. "In two days we got to Court and you'll atone for your poor behavior in blood."

Dick sobbed brokenly, sounding and acting the part to perfection. That appeared to do it because Clark nodded after a few seconds, holding up a fist and then slowly opening it out. Jason let out the breath that he'd been holding. It was a really good fucking thing that King Lionel had never managed to capture Oracle. She could listen to one location for a hell of a lot longer than that.

"All clear," Clark said. "Good job, Dick. That should have been really convincing."

"Thank you," Dick said so brightly that Princess Diana laughed. "I do try whenever they listen in on us. Though just for the record?"

"You're going to be terrified," Lord Bruce said for him, pulling Dick into a hug that Dick leaned into gratefully. "I know. At most you'll get one lash and that's it. It all depends on our getting the Houses of Magic on our side."

"One lash I can handle," Dick replied.

He said it confidently enough that it reassured everyone but Roy and Jason. Jason knew better and Roy obviously wasn't going to stop worrying until it was all over. Truthfully, Jason was worried about even one lash on Dick's perfect back. The guy was tough but he didn't deal well with pain. From the look on Lord Bruce's face as he sent Dick back to cuddle with Roy (who looked guilty for doing it of all things) that one lash was going to be so light that it wouldn't even leave a mark for one second.

Still, they better damned well get some magical help or all this talk was for nothing in Jason's opinion. He knew he could fight any physical foe but fighting a dark god wanna-be who took over people's bodies and stole their free will was a hell of a lot more than the Red Knight could handle. It was more than any of them could handle.

The Houses of Magic better come through or they were going to be screwed before anything got started.


End file.
